Woo! Refund! And updates.

So, our travel agent got on me about not posting anything about the recent refund we received from Carnival, so here goes!

We booked our cruise at an Early Saver rate--meaning it's non-refundable, but if the price drops, Carnival will refund the difference. So I've been watching the fares like a hawk, and recently Carnival had a great sale. So great, in fact, that the super cheap price that we paid was undercut by $360. So, I contacted Simon (our TA) about it, and he sent in the paperwork. Fast forward several days (couple weeks?) and we still hadn't heard anything. So I poked at Simon and asked him to look into it.  Turns out that Carnival lost our paperwork...Likely story.  Simon sent in the paperwork again and told me that he would fight for this price drop for us. Well, of course he would, he's awesome!  In the end Simon had to be on hold for several hours with Carnival, but he ended up getting us back $360. It's coming to us as OBC (on board credit) but I am very cool with that.

We are sailing THIS MONTH. I am not prepared. I have several boxes of stuff laying around that we need to take with us, a few things still not purchased, and so much money spent already that it is ridiculous. 

Let me tell you, cruising with children adds 3 times the cost, and I'm not talking about the cruise itself. So many things that we take for granted that we have in the house, I now have to worry about having on the ship. Like diaper bags. I'm not talking about bags to carry clean diapers and wipes. I mean scented bags to put the dirty diapers in so the cabin doesn't stink and the steward doesn't gag as soon as he walks in the room. At home we just toss them into the kitchen garbage, which holds all the stinky garbage. So...dirty diaper bags.  Also, tons of sunscreen! Yes, we would take that even without the kids, but we need at least 3 times as much. Sunburns are bad as an adult, even worse as a kid. I've had several over my years. Some 3rd degree. Not good.

On top of that, little things for the kids to play with, so they don't get bored at dinner. First aid kit with kid meds, kid bandaids, etc. Better to have them, blah blah blah.

Now that we have less than a month before we go, I am so stressed out just thinking about packing. I know that we will forget something really important--like our passports. Lists. I need to go back to my lists.

Oh, I can't wait to be on the ship. No more worries.